


Trust

by HalfAmbidextrous



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Spoilers from the beginning of the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 20:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16332803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfAmbidextrous/pseuds/HalfAmbidextrous
Summary: It is said that it is hard to earn, yet easy to lose. But sometimes, trust is implicit, earned by things such as a familial bond. To that end, Kassandra trusted her parents. Without question, she knew that they would provide for, love, and protect her.





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of a retelling of Kassandra's past flashbacks. The interaction between Kassandra and Nikolaos seemed a bit wooden in the game's animation, so I wanted to get into Kassandra's head a little bit.

Trust.

It is said that it is hard to earn, yet easy to lose. But sometimes, trust is implicit, earned by things such as a familial bond. To that end, Kassandra trusted her parents. Without question, she knew that they would provide for, love, and protect her. There was never a doubt in her mind. So, on the cliff of Mount Taygetos, surrounded by Spartan leaders, soldiers and priests, Kassandra trusted that her father would stop the sacrifice of her baby brother.  
   
In the distance, thunder rolled, and lightning cracked around them. Yet it did nothing to drown out the pleading sobs coming from Kassandra’s mother. It took two Spartans to hold Myrrine back, but they struggled all the same. A mother’s love is a powerful thing, her son’s life was threatened, and it seemed as if Nikolaos didn’t care. Still, Kassandra knew he would act. She had faith that her father would do something to solve this. The Oracle of Apollo had to be wrong, that a grandchild of the mighty King Leonidas could be the downfall of Sparta was preposterous. Laughable, even.  
  
Kassandra’s didn’t notice the tears that were beginning to well in her eyes. Her heart was beginning to break as her faith that her father would act was waning. She knew he must be trying to find the best solution, she trusted he would. The priest was approaching the cliff, and the only thing Nikolaos approached was betrayal. Kassandra couldn’t understand but knew she must act if her father would not. So she ran. She would pry Alexios from the priest’s uncaring grasp and save her family.  

 But it was not to be. The priest unknowingly moved directly into Kassandra’s path, causing a fatal collision. Both the priest and Alexios plummeted off the cliff, her worst fear realized. Those gathered as witness nearly sucked the air from cliff in a collective gasp.  
  
“Murderer!” came a voice.  
  
“Toss her over!” uttered another.  
  
She sat at the cliff’s edge on her knees in stunned disbelief. She had killed her brother. Vaguely, she was aware that someone was issuing her father orders to toss her over as well, and her mother once again pleading for the life of her child. She heard the gentle, uncertain footsteps approach from behind. Slowly, she rose and turned to see a haunted Nikolaos.

“Pater!” She cried as she ran to embrace him.  
  
Nikolaos stood stoically, looking over the cliff as she clung to him. Gradually, he knelt and cautiously reached to touch her cheek, pulling his hand back at the last second. She stared into his eyes. She knew what she had done was wrong, but it was an accident. Surely, her father knew that. He had failed to save her brother, but she remembered his past words of how much he valued and loved her. He had faltered earlier, but she knew he would be resolute now in his protection of her. Her mother’s screams and his loss of words however, sent a chilling sensation down her spine. Doubt had once again set in. His lips trembled, as all the words he had hoped to say failed him. Swiftly, he grabbed her wrist and lifted her off the ground and over the cliff’s edge.

 “Pater...?” she croaked, the doubt now setting into her bones. In the distance she saw her mother, and she looked terrified. “…Pater?” she asked again, trembling now.  
  
Kassandra looked into his eyes. Truly, she did not know what was about to happen. He would stop and set her down, wouldn’t he?  Above the two of them, a bolt of lightning violently flared, and her mother screamed her name. She felt weightless with fear. It took her only a second to realize it wasn’t the fear that made her feel weightless, Nikolaos had flung her.  
  
She awoke at the bottom of the cliff to her mother’s screams, amidst a pile of tiny skeletons, the dead priest and curiously, an Eagle staring at her.  
  
“Alexios!” She called, but she could not see the body. She stood, collecting her grandfather’s broken spear and was going to search for her brother when she noticed the approaching Spartan soldiers. So she ran. She ran until she could run no longer, exhausted and scared, she caught her breath at edge of the woods, noticing a boat on the beach. It took her only a moment to push it into the sea, and as she clambered aboard, Kassandra looked back.  She looked in the direction of the cliff, and everyone she ever trusted.

Trust.

 That was the last time she would trust anyone, she thought as she set sail.  


End file.
